1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image communication system, a terminal device, a management device and a program for transmitting and receiving images between a terminal device that combines an accessory image with a base image and displays the composite image, and a management device that manages images via a communication network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, in cases where people display characters representing themselves on a network, such as when social networking service (SNS) users sharing a common interest communicate over a network using their alter-ego images (avatars), their avatars tend to be similar to each other. This is because they share the same interest and many of the avatars are related to this common interest. In such cases, accessories are added to their avatars. However, they have to select their desired accessories from predetermined accessories, and therefore their accessories tend to be similar to each other as well as their avatars. As a technology for adding an accessory to an avatar, a technology is known in which an accessory selected based on user attributes is added to the avatar (refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-open (Kokai) Publication No. 2005-332091).
In the above-described technology described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open (Kokai) Publication No. 2005-332091, the distinctiveness of an avatar can be significantly improved by the automatic generation of an avatar having an accessory. However, for the determination of user attributes, a predetermined test is required to be performed on the user as a preliminary step. Also, in this technology, accessories may become similar among people with similar user attributes.